"I have an idea!" I said slamming my room door closed.
"No, the last time you said those words they got us arrested." Ellie complained.
Pascal shook her head. "We didn't get arrested, it was just a warning."
"No, it wasn't-"
"Stop!" I interrupted...
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I remembered I had this dream where I was stuck. I don't remember where I was stuck but I remembered that no matter how many corners I turned I ended up back in the room I just left. Same gray walls and cement floors. I remember becoming frightened because I knew I would be stuck there and would never escape. That's how high school felt. Same gray walls, same people, and day after day nothing changed. But, walking in to the gym, I knew it would never be the same.
"It stinks."
The moment was immediately gone when Ellie sauntered in and made his usual honest remark. "You definitely got rid of the dirty sock smells. Now it just smells like a nuclear power plant blew up in here."
Pascal bit her lip, probably from saying something she would probably regret, "Well sometimes," she said instead, "art isn't always just black and white, there are some gray, smelly, areas."
Ignoring them, I went to the center of the gym, where the floor held a closed fist, large enough to fit me three times over. The fist had chains wrapped around the wrist. Some of the links were short, only a few feet away from the fist, others were long, extending to all ends of the of the gym, but all of them had little people holding on to an end. The people weren't in perfect detail but they weren't stick figure either- wait, nope, there was one stick figure.
"I did that one." Coop chimed in when he was me studying it.
"That you did!" I nodded, admiring his handy work...or lack of. Ellie whistled, "Our butterflies are subpar compared to this."
I couldn't help but nod in agreement. " What does it mean?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Pascal asked, marching over to the fist, "This is us," she stated, pointing at the hand. "And those are them, holding us back."
"Oh, I get it know." Cooper said excitedly.
Pascal looked at him, "I explained this to you already."
Coop looked sheepish as he bent his head. "Whatever."
"Well, it's really good." I said, truly meaning it. Pascal smiled, her grin turing cocky.
"I know, how could you not?"
I laughed, going to punch her on the arm, but then thought better of it after remembering Ellie earlier. "Very modest." I ended up saying instead.
"So are we going to do the next dare?" Cooper asked, bouncing on his feet.
Ellie crossed his arms over his new jacket, "What's your rush?"
"I'm ready to get this show moving and do something crazy."
"Oh," I said, raising my eyebrows. "Jumping off a building wasn't crazy enough for you?"
He gave me a flat look, "Haha, but this was kinda boring."
"Says the guy who drew the stick figure." Pascal huffed.
